409
In 1327, Mohammad bin Tughluq gave every man, woman and child in Delhi just three days’ notice to quit.
The Delhi Sultanate ruled wide realms in India between 1206 and 1555, but the aspiration of Sultan Mohammad bin Tughluq (r. 1325-1351, a contemporary of England’s Edward III) to be Alexander and Solomon rolled into one brought only bankruptcy and revolt. Especially disastrous was his snap decision in 1327 to walk the entire population of Delhi to a new capital over six hundred miles away.
Picture: © Anupamg, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted June 23 2021
410
William Herschel showed that variations in the brightness of the sun were causing climate change, but hardly anyone believed him.
In 1782, astronomer William Herschel set himself to examine a theory that the brightness of stars varied over time. There was no agreed classification for brightness, and no comprehensive record of observations, but it all had to do with a question that to Herschel was of the very first importance: whether the sun’s brightness also varies, and whether this has had any effect on earth’s climate.
Picture: © Hermann Luyken, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. Source.
Posted June 22 2021
411
It was a bitter moment for Anne Boleyn when she saw that what she herself had done to poor Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour was about to do to her.
Jane Seymour, sister of the Duke of Somerset, was maid of honour to Queen Catherine, wife of King Henry VIII, and later to Queen Anne, who took Catherine’s place and crown in 1533. To Anne’s consternation, and apparently to her surprise, Jane supplanted her in Henry’s affections and within a fortnight of Anne’s execution in 1536, Henry and Jane were married.
Picture: By Hans Holbein the Younger (1497/1498–1543), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted June 21 2021
412
When King George IV tried to divorce Queen Caroline with maximum embarrassment, her barrister warned that two could play at that game.
IN 1820, George, Prince of Wales (who had been Regent for his father since 1811) became King George IV. At once he began divorce proceedings against his estranged wife Caroline, who was living in Italy, and boasted he would expose her private life to public ridicule. Defence counsel Henry Brougham delicately reminded the House of Lords that George had a secret that would rock the monarchy — were it made public.
Picture: By George Hayter (1792–1871), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted June 20 2021
413
Facing defeat at the General Election of 1812, Henry Brougham stood before the voters of Liverpool and made a spirited defence of liberty’s record.
In the 1812 General Election, Henry Brougham (pronounced ‘broom’) was one of two Whig candidates hoping to represent Liverpool. On the night before they went to polls, he addressed supporters with a last-minute plea to redouble their efforts, reminding them that Parliamentary democracy, the abolition of slavery and even peace in Europe all depended on their determination to keep fighting for liberty.
Picture: James Lonsdale (1777–1839), via the National Portrait Gallery and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: ? Public domain.. Source.
Posted June 16 2021
414
In 1840, Secretary at War Thomas Macaulay treated the Union Jack like a bully’s visiting card, but backbencher William Gladstone believed it deserved better.
In 1840, the British Government, outraged at Peking’s crackdown on the smuggling of opium by British merchants from Bengal, declared war on the Chinese Empire. On April 8th, William Gladstone rose in the Commons to denounce the Government’s belligerent attitude, deploring the execrable drug traffic and taking exception to the way Secretary-at-War Thomas Macaulay wrapped it in the Union Jack.
Picture: By Michael Angelo Hayes (1820-1877), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain. . Source.
Posted June 13 2021